


Fallen Student

by walrusgrendel



Category: Jade Empire
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Pre-Canon, in which Li continues to be The Worst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 11:32:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14496057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/walrusgrendel/pseuds/walrusgrendel
Summary: At ten years old, Lu falls.





	Fallen Student

It was a testament to how long he had been playing this part that Li was able to keep the anger and panic off his face as Dawn Star spoke- frequently stopping to sob and hiccup. It seemed that she and Lu had gotten it into their foolish heads to challenge each other to a climbing contest up the trees between the school and town. Trying to reach a higher branch, Lu had underestimated the distance and gone crashing to the ground, where he had lain unmoving while Dawn Star had run for help. 

“Now h-he might be dead! And it’s all my f-f-fault!” Dawn Star wailed, rubbing at her eyes. “I told him he could make it!” 

Schooling his emotions, Li gave the closest to a reassuring smile he could manage given the present circumstances. 

“I do not blame you, Dawn Star. He would not have made the jump uless he thought he could manage it. Now, I need you to find Smiling Mountain and take him to where Lu fell, then bring him back here.” 

Dawn Star nodded, eyes puffy and face a blotchy red, before almost sprinted out of the house. 

Once alone, Li had to take a deep breath to stop himself from breaking something. 

Ten years! Ten years of planning and training could be going to waste on a child’s whim! 

His one chance at the Empire could already be dead before he’d been able to put any of his plans into action. 

Li calmed himself. It wasn’t too common for people to die from falling from trees. Lu was a strong child, strong enough that some of the senior students had already begun to call him ‘the Prodigy’. He couldn’t die from something so mundane as a fall. If all went as intended, Lu would die soon after fulfilling his purpose of killing Hai (preferably managing to deal with Death’s Hand as well, but that was secondary). Hai was already making it far too easy for him to set the two in opposition to each other- even as remote as Two Rivers was, news still reached him from the rest of the Empire and he recognised his brother’s hand in these Lotus Assassins. True, he wasn’t sure what form the impetus for it all would be, but he could adapt; had he not proved that in Dirge a decade ago? 

Li heard the familiar footsteps of Smiling Mountain and dragged himself from his thoughts. It never helped to dwell. 

“Lu’s managed to injure one of his ankles with the fall.” Smiling Mountain told him, “But I can’t tell how badly until he wakes. I’ve put him in the junior dormitory and asked Dawn Star to keep an eye on him for now.” 

“Thank you, Smiling Mountain. I’ll check on him soon- you should return to your students.” 

Smiling Mountain nodded and left quickly. Alone with his thoughts again, Li quickly cycled through all the possibilities before him. The very worst option was that the wound would fester and Lu would die. Li was confronted with the sudden memory of the Empress lying pale and cold in her bed, breathing her last as sickness took her. He shook his head. No. That was unlikely. 

Another possibility was that the injury was not severe enough to kill but to maim, enough that Lu would not be capable of fighting. Still potentially disastrous. In that case, Li would simply have to kill him quietly as he slept and have to find an alternative means of dethroning Hai. 

The most likely was simply a bruise or, at worse, a broken ankle which would take Lu out of training for a few months perhaps but not completely derail Li’s carefully planning. 

All of a sudden, he felt a sudden rush of anger. Was this what it had all become? He should have been seated on the throne at the Imperial Palace these last ten years, instead he was trapped here in this backwater, worrying over an injured child. 

It was past time that he personally learned exactly what was wrong. 

Li left his house and walked over to the junior dormitories on western side of the school. There were few pupils at the moment, and all but Lu and Dawn Star were either in lessons, practicing, or had gone into the town for some rest. As he entered, he noticed that Dawn Star was perched on the bed next to Lu’s and that Lu himself had woken. The two were talking cheerfully about something, and it appeared that Dawn Star was no longer crying. 

The two fell silent as soon as they noticed him and Dawn Star hopped off the bed to stand up straight. 

“Master Li! I was about to tell you Lu just woke up!” 

Li nodded. Lu did not move to stand, indicating that his leg was probably more than just bruised. It remained to be seen how much more. 

“It is good to see you are awake.” Li smiled, “How do you feel?” 

“It hurts.” Lu mumbled, looking down at his hands instead of at his teacher’s face. 

He was embarrassed, Li quickly realised. Good. That would make it easier to teach him. First, however, he needed to know if his plan was still on track. 

“Can you move your foot? Even a little.” 

Lu scrunched up his face, trying not to cry, and wiggled his right foot about for a moment before letting it fall back onto the bed. Li could have cheered in relief but instead he took on a serious expression. 

“Dawn Star told me about what happened.” Lu shot a panicked look at her and out of the corner of his eye, Li could see her mouth ‘sorry’ to him. “You could have been seriously harmed.” 

Lu looked down at his lap again, expression utterly miserable. “I know. It was a stupid risk.” 

Li sighed. “Risk is sometimes necessary. Every fight is a risk- do not forget that. But it is knowing when to take a chance that will make you stronger.” 

Lu looked up, confused. “You’re not angry?” 

In all honesty, Li was absolutely furious but a Spirit Monk afraid to risk injury would be useless in the end. “No, just worried. Get some rest, you will start training again when you are no longer in pain.” 

It was all a delicate balance in training- to be trusting but not blind, intelligent but not perceptive enough to understand, and willing to make the occasional leap, but not to fall. 

Not yet. 


End file.
